|
Showing 1 - 4 of
4 matches in All Departments
Religion is, and has always been, a powerful force in American
politics. Over the past three decades, the study of religion and
politics has gone from being ignored by the scholarly community to
being a major focus of research. Yet, because this important
research is not easily accessible to nonspecialists, much of the
analysis of religion's role in the political arena that we read in
the media is greatly oversimplified. This Handbook seeks to bridge
that gap by examining the considerable research that has been
conducted to this point and assessing what has been learned, what
remains unsettled due to conflicting research findings, and what
important questions remain largely unaddressed by current research
endeavors. This volume enlists noted scholars in the field to write
essays that examine a particular subject area that: (a) assess the
"state of the art" within that area; (b) review important findings,
insights, and theoretical advances; (c) outline the current debates
that engage scholarly attention; and, (d) raise some important, but
currently understudied, questions. Thus, the authors review
previous work, explain the findings of that research, and speculate
about the bases of the various findings related to that topic, with
each essay containing an excellent bibliography. The Handbook is
unique to the field of religion and American politics and should be
of wide interest to scholars, students, journalists, and others
interested in the American political scene.
After the reelection of George W. Bush in 2004, the "God Gap"
became a hotly debated political issue. Religious voters were seen
as the key to Bush's victory, and Democrats began scrambling to
reach out to them. Four years later, however, with the economy in a
tailspin on election day, religion barely seemed to register on
people's radar screens. In this book, a team of well-regarded
scholars digs deeper to examine the role religion played in the
2008 campaign. They take a long view, placing the election in
historical context and looking at the campaign as a whole, from the
primaries through all the way through election day. At the heart of
their analysis is data gleaned from a national survey conducted by
the authors, in which voters were interviewed in the spring of 2008
and then re-interviewed after the election.
After the reelection of George W. Bush in 2004, the "God Gap"
became a hotly debated political issue. Religious voters were seen
as the key to Bush's victory, and Democrats began scrambling to
reach out to them. Four years later, however, with the economy in a
tailspin on election day, religion barely seemed to register on
people's radar screens. In this book, a team of well-regarded
scholars digs deeper to examine the role religion played in the
2008 campaign. They take a long view, placing the election in
historical context and looking at the campaign as a whole, from the
primaries through all the way through election day. At the heart of
their analysis is data gleaned from a national survey conducted by
the authors, in which voters were interviewed in the spring of 2008
and then re-interviewed after the election.
Religion is, and has always been, a powerful force in American
politics. Over the past three decades, the study of religion and
politics has gone from being ignored by the scholarly community to
being a major focus of research. Yet, because this important
research is not easily accessible to nonspecialists, much of the
analysis of religion's role in the political arena that we read in
the media is greatly oversimplified. This Handbook seeks to bridge
that gap by examining the considerable research that has been
conducted to this point and assessing what has been learned, what
remains unsettled due to conflicting research findings, and what
important questions remain largely unaddressed by current research
endeavors. This volume enlists noted scholars in the field to write
essays that examine a particular subject area that: (a) assess the
"state of the art" within that area; (b) review important findings,
insights, and theoretical advances; (c) outline the current debates
that engage scholarly attention; and, (d) raise some important, but
currently understudied, questions. Thus, the authors review
previous work, explain the findings of that research, and speculate
about the bases of the various findings related to that topic, with
each essay containing an excellent bibliography. The Handbook is
unique to the field of religion and American politics and should be
of wide interest to scholars, students, journalists, and others
interested in the American political scene.
|
|